The present invention relates to an optical reading device such as a zebra or bar code reader.
A zebra code reader of scanner type, which is installed at a fixed position, is known. This reader radiates light onto a recording medium (e.g., a label) with a zebra code representing the price of an article. The light reflected from a black bar is less intense than the light reflected from a white bar. This difference in light intensity is converted into an electrical signal. The zebra code reader supplies this signal to a data processing apparatus, e.g., an electronic cash register, which is connected to it. The display device of the data processing apparatus displays the data which has been read from the recording medium.
If the zebra code reader and the data processing apparatus are relatively remote from one another, a problem will arise. The cashier and customer, both standing close to the zebra code reader and at a distance from the data processing apparatus, may not correctly read the data displayed by the data processing apparatus. To avoid this error, the zebra reader may be equipped with a display device. In this case, however, the zebra code reader must be provided with several control circuits for driving this display device. This will make the reader very complex and costly.